Some jobless-claims numbers missing since shutdown leak out. Here's what they tell us - and what they don't.

By Jeffry Bartash

The labor market is weaker, but just how weak?

With the government shutdown over, museums have reopened - but a raft of problems remain.

The website of the federal agency that reports the number of people who apply for unemployment benefits each week shows that layoffs stayed quite low during the middle of the government shutdown.

But that's all it really tells us.

Initial jobless claims totaled 232,000 in the week of Oct. 18, according to an obscure Labor Department database that lists the record of claims going back to 1967.

The database does not include missing jobless-claims figures for the three weeks prior to Oct. 18 or the three weeks after that date.

Typically, the Labor Department would inform the public ahead of time about when such data would be available, and the claims report would issued via a press release. A partial data release late at night with no announcement is highly unusual.

Before the government shutdown began Oct. 1, new jobless claims totaled 219,000 in the first week of September and 232,000 and 264,000, respectively, in the following two weeks.

More recent information gleaned from U.S. states shows that new jobless claims have hovered between 220,000 and 230,000 for the past month. All the states publicize their own claims data, allowing Wall Street economists to calculate accurate estimates.

Officials at the Labor Department could not immediately be reached for comment.

While the low level of jobless claims in October is good news, it doesn't reveal much about the health of the U.S. job market. A spate of large companies have announced big layoffs recently, and that could nudge claims higher in the next few months.

More recent employment barometers, meanwhile, suggest companies are not hiring many people. They may even be cutting more jobs than they are adding.

Payroll processor ADP on Tuesday said its weekly snapshot of the labor market suggests that companies are slightly reducing employment.

Wall Street will get a better read on the labor market - if belatedly - later in the week when the Labor Department publishes the backlog of missing jobless-claims data and releases the September employment report on Thursday. That report was delayed for one and a half months.

Federal Reserve officials are also eager to see the postponed reports on employment and inflation. The Fed cut interest rates at its last two meetings because of a weakening labor market.

Fed governor Chris Waller said Monday that he favors another rate cut in December because he thinks the job market has gotten even weaker. Some of his Fed colleagues are less convinced, however, and don't appear in a rush to cut rates again.

-Jeffry Bartash

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11-18-25 1016ET